Samsung Galaxy S5 (GSM)

Phone Scoop Review

Apr 18, 2014 by Eric M. ZemanSamsung delivers a delightful device in the Galaxy S5. This powerful Android smartphone offers a more refined experience than its predecessor and manages to raise the bar at least a little bit. read review ›

a Mercedes among smartphones

I loved my Galaxy s3, didn't upgrade to the s4 because not enough improvements, but when the s5 came out I had to have it. Great screen, great features, good sound, it does everything extremely well. Yes the screen is big but I can still get my thumb around the screen where I need to. If you freeze bloatware (AT&T in my case), and turn off the "sync every few minutes" items, you get great battery life. This phone handles a 128gig memory card just fine. I get better reception than my s3 did.

Cons: The camera is great, but still not enough zoom, so your zoomed photos will not be very good. The only s5 that can be flashed with custom ROMs is the T-Mobile version, all others have encrypted bootloaders. However, after rooting, installing Titanium Backup to freeze bloatware, and with Xposed modules installed, I'm not missing custom ROMs. This is just an absolutely wonderful phone.

One of, if not the best, smartphones

I have had this phone now for two weeks. I upgraded from an HTC One X+. This phone is hands down the best smartphone I have ever owned, and as a seasoned electronics engineer and gadget geek I don't make that statement lightly. Yes Samsung could have put a wiz-bang HTC/Apple like metal case on the phone but given that most everyone I know or see puts their phones in a good case.....WHO CARES!!!!!!The screen is awesome with an infinite contrast ratio and beautiful color saturation (a little to the warm kelvin side but not bad).The battery life is nothing short of amazing thanks to the Snapdragon 801s and AMOLED efficiency ( Kit-Kat helps also).As most have observed, the camera does have a low-light quality weakness. Digital stabilization helps in low light but should be turned off in good lighting situations as the focus becomes almost instantaneous with this feature off.Overall if you are looking for a feature rich phone will excellent core functionality, a rich set of bells and whistles, an excellent (but not outstanding) camera with outstanding battery life, you should strongly consider this phone. It is hard to beat.If you a just looking for something to stoke your ego and don't really care as much about function as much as sexy cases, the HTC One (M7/8) or the I-phone might float your boat more (not that they aren't very good phones but they aren't, in my humble opinion, in the same class as the S5)

I love this phone

I haven't had much android experience outside of Samsung. I have had the Galaxy 2, 4 and now the 5. This phone is amazing. The ability to use the split screen, the camera, the audio and the just overall ease of the phone is amazing. The phone has been criticized for not being that much better that the 4 but that is simply because you cannot perfect perfection. The screen and its images always come through sharp and brilliant. The phone is fast and doesn't lag or stall between applications. The sound is great and the battery life is much better than the battery life of the 4. I love this phone's ability to go into power saving mode.

Good Phone

This review being in light of the fact that I am an avid iPhone user and love all Apple products, every once in a while I like to break away from them and try an Android out for fun and Ive gotta say this is a great phone. I actually started this time with an iPhone 5 and traded it for a Galaxy S4 and then something happened with at the TMobile store- Were all still not really sure what happened to my GS4 but it got really messed up and wouldnt read any Sim cards. So instead of losing me as a customer to ATT, TMobile offered me a trade in deal for this GS5. And I honestly couldnt be happier. Its screen is beautiful, the camera is amazing with all the features you can do with it and it is SUPER fast. I have noticed some people saying its cheaply made but its much better than the plastic GS4 I had before it. But not as well made at all as the iPhones Ive owned. The clarity and pixels on the screen are just beautiful and the battery is much much better than the GS4. I keep it plugged in most of time though but when I have had to leave for the day with no way to charge it it seems to last much much longer than most other previous phones Ive had. They made the back beautifully and almost like a case. Im still yet to put a case on it- which I know I need to do soon. And I havent tried to drop it in water yet and doubt that I will but I trust from all the other reviews that it is water proof. All in all it is a beautiful and awesome phone. Still, Im very much looking forward to Apples new release this year. Stay blessed and hope this review helps. Ps- I think the reception is fine and that review has really more to do with what area you live in and what carrier you have. I have TMobile and live in Silicon Valley so my reception on this phone has been pretty good.

Best phone around!

This phone is much better than the Iphone 5s and should be on par with the Iphone 6. I have tested the water feature in 8 ft of water for 30 minutes and have experienced no issues at all. The camera is ideal and Ultra Power saver preserves Battery for days. The processor is VERY fast. After testing speeds on a 130 mbps Wireless system, was able to peak the phone speeds up to 78 mbps (normally maxes out at 50) Phone is 5g capable and should be a legit contender to the Galaxy Note 4 release in the fall. The ONLY drawback to the phone is the removal of the menu button. Would recommend this phone to anyone. Happy shopping!

Big screen but...

This is a great phone. Big screeen and perfect for movies o see photos but have many inconvenients. The camera is great outside but interior photos are so bad. I need take 5 photos to make one decent. I dont understeand how 16megapixels camera is insuficient to take a decent photo with poor lights embiroments. Is not better a 8 or 12 megapixel camera with a better sensor?

Nice phone

This is a very nice phone, especially if you are a person that likes a lot of tweats and settings. I only have ONE complaint, but this is a VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE in my opinion, afterall, a phone should do the most important function well, this phone does not have near the call quality and clarity of the most smartphones. I guess you will get used to it, but the call quality is lacking clarity and crispness, calls sound slightly muffled. Best likes of all is the awesome screen, and no lag at all for me! This phone is FAST. The camera is great outside, but indoor pictures are terrible and worse, the camera has a bad shutter lag when using indoors which causes you to miss important shots, this is a complaint of all Galaxy series phones. Build quality is ok with me, but the charge port is somewhat difficult to open. Battery life for me is good, I am an average user.

grrrreeeat phone

I went from a iphone 5 to the galaxy s5 and im in love the screen is much bigger than the iphone of course. More free apps, it have a heart rate monitor which seem pretty accurate I work at a hospital so I tested the two together, It have notification light, you can talk to the phone and it will type your text message for you I had the galaxy s4 everything that was on that model went to the s5 I see a few extra things added but not much.

Amazing Buy

Just Upgraded from my Galaxy Mega amd this phone is phenomenal its wow it has a gorgeous vibrant screen and a very good battery life i go through a whole day and end up around 75% I was really dreading getting it since I heard so many people dis it but I still took the plunge this phone is so amazing and its WATER PROOF This phone is amazing I love it wouldn't trades for anything in the world